Open Letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh - With RSS Ruling India, Do We Really Need Pakistan or Any other Foreign Enemy To Destroy Democratic-secular India?

Namaskar. It was heartening to note that as the Home Minister of a democratic-secular India you warned Pakistan, an Islamic state, not to be misled by the illusion that the latter could divide India on the basis of religion. You were absolutely right when addressing a public meeting at Kathua, Jammu, on December 12, 2016, you said: “Pakistan is under the wrong impression that it can divide India again on the basis of religion... All Indian Hindus and Muslims were brothers...”1

I hope when you uttered the above words warning Pakistan about its designs to create divisions between the two largest religious communities of India, you really meant it. Why I am raising this issue is because your public confession, like our PM Modiji, that you are a ‘Hindu nationalist’, a member of the RSS and a follower of Hindutva politics. I have no reason to believe that as a member of the RSS you will not be following the RSS ideology vis-à-vis the democratic-secular Indian polity. Let me refresh your kind memory about some of the shocking ideas of the RSS about the present Indian polity which Pakistan wants to fiddle with.

Rss against Secular-Composite India

The RSS’ English organ, Organiser, in its issue on the very eve of Independence, dated August 14, 1947, rejected the whole concept of a composite nation (under the editorial title ‘Whither’):

“Let us no longer allow ourselves to be influenced by false notions of nationhood. Much of the mental confusion and the present and future troubles can be removed by the ready recognition of the simple fact that in Hindusthan only the Hindus form the nation and the national structure must be built on that safe and sound foundation [...] the nation itself must be built up of Hindus, on Hindu traditions, culture, ideas and aspirations”.

RSS Cadres’ ‘Oath’ and ‘Prayer’ for Hindu Rashtra

The following texts of ‘oath’ and ‘prayer’ mandatory for all RSS members commit every RSS member to worship a ‘Hindu Land’ as part of ‘Hindu Rashtra’.

Prayer:

Affectionate Motherland, I eternally bow to you/O Land of Hindus, you have reared me in comfort/O Sacred Land, the Great Creator of Good, may this body of mine be dedicated to you/I again and again bow before You/O God Almighty, we the integral part of the Hindu Rashtra salute you in reverence/For Your cause have we girded up our loins/Give us Your Blessings for its accomplishment.2

Oath:

Before the all-powerful God and my ancestors, I most solemnly take this oath, that I become a member of the RSS in order to achieve all-round greatness of Bharatvarsha by fostering the growth of my sacred Hindu religion, Hindu society, and Hindu culture. I shall perform the work of the Sangh honestly, disinterestedly, with my heart and soul, and I shall adhere to this goal all my life. Bharat Mata ki Jai.3

Thus, RSS cadres ruling India are not faithful to the Indian Nation as it exists as a legal entity but want to subvert it into a theocratic Hindu state like the Muslim League which created Pakistan in the name of Islam.

Rss denigrates Tricolour which symbolises Democratic-Secular India

The same RSS organ in the same issue (Organiser, August 14, 1947), demeaning the choice of the National Flag, wrote:

“The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour but it will never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.”

Guru Golwalkar, most prominent ideologue of RSS, declared Muslims as Internal Threat No 1 and Christians as Threat No 2

The ‘Holy’ book for the RSS cadres, Bunch of Thoughts (by Guru Golwalkar), has a long chapter titled as ‘Internal Threats’ in which Muslims and Christians are described as threat number 1 and 2 respectively.

While spitting venom against Indian Muslims he says:

“Within the country there are so many Muslim pockets, i.e., so many ‘miniature Pakistans’... The conclusion is that, in practically every place, there are Muslims who are in constant touch with Pakistan over the transmitter...”4

While deliberating on the ‘Internal Threat’ number two, Indian Christians, he says:

“Such is the role of Christian gentlemen residing in our land today, out to demolish not only the religious and social fabric of our life but also to establish political domination in various pockets and if possible all over the land.”5

Respected Rajnath Singhji! As a senior and seasoned RSS cadre you must be familiar with all these ideological aspects of your organisation. Led by this ideology of Hindu nationalism that an old mosque at Ayodhya was demolished by RSS cadres including you. The RSS leaders have been brazenly calling India as a land for Hindus only. Some of them have vowed to cleanse India of Muslims and Christians by 2021 and establish a Hindu Rashtra by then.6

Sir, kindly enlighten us whether you as a senior cadre of the RSS believe in the above worldview of the RSS or not. If you are a believer in all these anti-democratic-secular Indian ideas then forgive me for asking a question: With the RSS ruling India, do we really need Pakistan or any other foreign enemy to destroy Democratic-Secular India?

I will end by sharing the fact that Indian Muslims have not fallen prey to criminal anti-India designs of Islam-o-fascists of Pakistan or elsewhere but the flag-bearer of Hindutva politics, RSS and its the juggernaut are working overtime to see that the evil wish of Islam-o-fascists, to undo democratic-secular India, is fulfilled at the earliest. I hope you as the Home Minister will discard the anti-national ideas of the RSS and join the patriotic Indian forces who want to save India from all kinds of theocratic nationalisms.

Shamsul Islam, a well-known theatre personality, is a former Associate Professor (now retired), Department of Political Science, Satyawati College, University of Delhi. For some of the author’s writings in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu and Gujarati see the following link:http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam